After police hauled the president down to the police station, they were unsure if they could charge a sitting president if he had not been impeached.

“They ended up letting him pay a fine and walk back to the White House,” Lanier says.

That story and many others are part of the 150-year history of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, including the story of how the D.C. policeman assigned to protect President Lincoln was drunk and left his post the night Lincoln was killed.

“[It was] not one of our prouder moments,” Lanier says.

History buffs can actually see the police log for the day of Lincoln’s assassination by visiting police headquarters.

“We actually have the firsthand written record of the Lincoln assassination in our logbook,” she says. “We have a lot of other very interesting artifacts from the beginning of the police department.”

Following Lanier’s interview on WTOP’s Ask the Chief segment this week, DCist.com dug up more details and background on the speedy president’s traffic travails.

WTOP’s Mark Segraves contributed to this report. Follow Mark and WTOP on Twitter.